Hollywood Poker review

Popular skin of Ongame network

Bonuses up to $1000

Cashback up to 40%

Easy to use software

Why play at Hollywood Poker?

Hollywood Poker is a well established member of the OnGame network of sites, having been around since the early days of 2004. Spearheaded by the famous poker player and commentator Vince Van Patten, it offers a range of welcome bonuses and games which should suit all players.It's one of those online poker rooms that is a great 'all rounder' in terms of the stakes offered, the promotions, and, being part of a huge network, really excellent levels of player traffic.They've got a great brand based around the maxim "Where the stars come to play" and it's a really sexy, slick looking website and software they have.

Hollywood Poker software

I'm a big fan of the OnGame software - easy to use, really simple navigation and looks pretty slick. So all in all pretty good. Hollywood Poker's 'skin' of this client is a really classy deep red, white and silver that really looks the part.

The cristiscim I have of the Hollywood Poker client is that, aside from making the card deck a four-colour one, you can't do anything to customise it - so there's no different table themes or colours you can choose from, for example. However it's fair to say though that even 'as is', it's a great looking client and one of the most intuitive on the market.

The Hollywood Poker software is compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems.

Hollywood Poker screenshots

Hollywood Poker games

Hollywood has pretty much something for everyone - Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 5 Card Draw and 7 Card Stud (and Hi/Lo), so it's only the more obscure games like Badugi and HORSE that you won't find on this site. The only thing it lacks is stakes for the ultra-high stakes player.

Hold'em is offered in No, Pot and Fixed Limit; Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo in Pot and Fixed Limit, 5 Card Draw in Pot Limit and Stud in Fixed Limit.

Let's take a look at the stakes on offer -

Cash games: $0.02/$0.04 through to $25/$50

Sit n go's (SNGs): $0.53 to $525

Multi Table Tournaments (MTTs): $1 to $525

Also, every new Hollywood Poker account comes loaded with $1000 of 'play money' so you have the chance to try out the games without risking any of your money if you want to do so before depositing.

Hollywood Poker welcome bonus

The beauty of Hollywood Poker is they don't offer just the standard "one size fits all" first time deposit bonus - you can actually choose from six, depending on which is going to suit you best. Here's the options for you

1) Casual Player Bonus - 100% match, deposit $25 and get up to $25

2) Active Player Bonus - 200% match, deposit $25 and get up to $50

3) Enthusiast Player Bonus - 200% match, deposit $50 and get up to $100

4) Aggressive Player Bonus - 500% match, deposit $50 and get up to $250

5) Grinder Player Bonus - 500% match, deposit $100 and get up to $500

6) Professional Player Bonus - 400% match, deposit $250 and get up to $1000

So as you can see, Hollywood offer a great range of welcome bonuses, depending on how much you're going to be depositing and how much you'll be playing.

As well as the bonuses themselves, you'll also get four free tournament ticket entries into the weekly $100 'Red Carpet' freerolls. Hollywood also offer regular reload and noload bonus offers from time to time.

How do you earn the bonus?

Each of the six bonuses have slightly different clearance methods, with 'Points' needed to clear them ranging from 200 to 8,000, and increments they pay out varying from $5 to $500.

Aside from the 'professional' bonus, the time you have to clear the bonus is 90 days (the pro one being 60).

Hollywood Poker reward/player loyalty scheme

clubHOLLYWOODpoker is the name of the game here and it's a cracked of a loyalty program. There are five levels to the program - Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and the elite Titanium. Each of these levels has better perks and benefits on offer.

Becoming the 'Bronze' level is a snap - you literally have to just earn one Player Point in a month and you're off! Then it's 501 for Silver, 1001 for Gold, 3001 for Platinum, and 6001 for Titanium.They also have an extra-special 'Walk of Fame' level which is where you've earned at least 12,000 Player Points in the last twelve months.

There's a whole bunch of things you can do with the Player Points you earn. For starters you can just change them for cash - for example, a $25 voucher could be 'bought' for 2500 Points. Or you can 'buy' bonuses ('NoLoad'), e.g. a $10 one for 400 Points.

Alternatively you can buy tournament tickets - the higher your status the more you're allowed to buy. As an example, a $22 tournament ticket would cost you 2200 Player Points.

Finally you can exchange them for a range of merchandise and Hollywood Poker gear.

Hollywood Poker traffic

Remember that Hollywood Poker isn't just a site in its own right, it's part of a 'network' of sites which is called OnGame. Now, OnGame is the fifth busiest network in the world and its traffic statistics show that during a peak time in the day they get around 4400 poker players online at any one time, with an average of 1900.That's a lot of players! And what it means to you is a really good number of people on the cash tables, but also bigger prize-pools for the MTTs, and of course SNGs that fill up quickly.

Both Hold'em and Omaha boast excellent levels of traffic, whilst the more niche games are of course better populated during the evenings and weekends.

The levels of player traffic at Hollywood Poker mean the site is suitable for both the recreational and professional player alike.

Hollywood customer service and support

Hollywood have made it dead easy to contact them and I love the variety of options they give their players for speaking to them. For starters you can use the instant 'Live Help' online chat, or Skype, MSN, Yahoo, or just phone them.

But on top of that they've clearly made a big effort with building up their FAQ and online player help section of their website which is very helpful and comprehensive indeed.

It's also worth saying that we think they have a great team of customer service staff - as part of this review we threw two queries by phone and a couple by Live Chat, both of which were answered quickly and efficiently.

Best of all their support is offered on a 24/7 basis so they're always there should you need them.